Venomancer Player Guide
See also Venomancer and Rare Spawn and Venomancer Pet Venomancers, while offering varied playstyle options, are mostly a "pet class" while soloing in PvE, and a "debuff class" in squad play and in PvP. The 'pet' is an NPC ally that, in most cases, fights in the front lines, holding enemies at bay, and hopefully their attention off of the less well armored pet owner, while the pet owner uses spells from range. Although pet classes can be weaker or even problematic in groups, Perfect World Venomancers have proved their worth in groups as 'pullers', exploiting monster behaviour to bring single monsters to the group and avoiding taking on the whole pack of monsters at once. Pet classes are also typically average speed but capable soloers, and sometimes the only class that can solo the biggest and most powerful monsters. This is not true in PWI; outside of the fact that Barbarians' defense/attack ratio is much higher than tanks in other games, making them far and away the best tanks against physical damage, Venomancers are not able to tank some bosses, at least not without Legendary (costs real life money) pets. Venomancers are unique in having two trainers: one for normal magic skills, and a separate Pet Skill Trainer. Although it is likely Venomancers will at first be using the first level of Pet Charm or Pet Revive, as higher levels are not worth the Spirit cost early on, do not forget to occasionally visit to pick up the next level of Pet Heal, which makes a huge difference. Always keep Ironwood and Venomous Scarab maxed. Always keep Amplify Damage maxed. Try to keep Wood Mastery, Bramble Guard, and Metabolic Boost maxed. Purge, Noxious Gas, Lending Hand, Lucky Scarab and Parasitic Nova are good. The rest are for later, or can be ignored or developed as there is sufficient Spirit. Ignore the Fox Form skills if you are new to the game; keep them at one if you know what you are doing. Develop them? If you are a match for that challenge, you would not be reading this guide. Combat Solo The pet itself will in most cases not be attacked by very low level monsters, even ones that would normally attack the Venomancer simply because of proximity. Successively higher level monsters increase their tendency to aggro, and this counts for aggro on pets as well. All monsters will, of course, retaliate. The general rule should be always to expect the unexpected. And expect to get hit hard, with any character, just around the time you are going to level up. Luring / Pulling It is desirable to engage only one monster at a time. This is particularly true when in a group, fighting high level monsters. The exception would be when fighting lower level monsters with the Hercules pet; its Reflect skill damages all attackers at once, making for very fast grinding. Send the pet at only one of a group of monsters; do not switch targets. Unsummon the pet. Attacking the monster gave undying 'aggro' to the pet, and its owner; the other monsters only wanted to kill the pet. Now that the pet is gone, the other monsters in the group have no pressing concerns, but the damaged monster now wants to kill the owner, and will run/fly/slither/lollop out of its pack alone to attempt this. Resummon the pet and deal with the now-solo monster. Repeat. Diminishment There are two ways for Venomancers to Diminish, or reduce the power of the target. Debuff, and Remove Buff. Debuff Ironwood Scarab will of course debuff the target's physical resistance, but Barbarian has a better debuff for this, making the primary V debuff, Amplify Damage. Fox Form, Amp, heal pet if necessary, or preferably Fox Form version of Myriad Rainbow, and then back to humanoid form. Remove Buff Purge is the second way to reduce the power of the target. In the metagame, there is a package of requisite powers that when fully arrayed, reduces the time to perform tasks. It stands to reason that Venomancers are part of that package with their Amplify Damage, but this is deceptive; the power that bosses can add to themselves with self buffs is far greater than that removed from them with a damage increase buff. In reality, then, Venomancers are part of the killing package with Purge, and there is no substitute. Instances that usually require purge are Twilight Temple 2-2, TT2-3, TT3-X, Nirvana, Caster Nirvana, Frostcovered City, Rebirth (Delta, Gamma, etc.), Faction Base Trials bosses, Warsong City bosses, Flowsilver Palace bosses, Undercurrent Hall fire path boss. Venomancer skills Perfect World has different versions in different countries. Skills are named differently in the different versions. Aka means 'also known as'. Universal skills The following skills can be used with or without Fox Form *Swimming Mastery *Soul Transfusion aka Intersoul Switch *Summer Sprint aka Celerity Wind Walk Notes *Nature's Grace + Soul Transfusion + Metabolic Boost Pet skills *Heal Pet *Revive Pet *Tame Beast Mage skill tree The following skills are not usable in Fox form. Attack skills *Venomous Scarab aka Envenom Parasite *Ironwood Scarab aka Ironrock Parasite *Blazing Scarab aka Blazing Parasite *Frost Scarab aka Frostbolt Parasite *Noxious Gas aka Mass Parasite *Lucky Scarab aka Megalith Parasite *Parasitic Nova aka Parasite Nova *Wood Mastery Enhancement skills *Bramble Guard. Increases a Venomancer's asset to a team; the buff does damage to attackers. For various tactical reasons, three of its effects can be disadvantageous in certain situations: the fact that when it activates, it counts as an attack by the buffed character, the fact that it halts movement on the buffed character when it activates (however briefly), and even the fact that it does damage. For this reason, it is recommended that Venomancers buff only primary and secondary tanks, and then announce in squad chat, "tell me if you want Bramble".http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1739161 *Bramble Hood aka Bramble Array *Metabolic Boost *Nature's Grace aka Divine Supplements *Lending Hand aka Vigor Switch *Arcane Antimony Notes Bramble Hood has an additional requirement, that Bramble Guard be increased to 10th level Fox skill tree *Fox Form. Required for the following skills. Miscellaneous skills *Purge aka Banish Malediction *Amplify Damage aka Amplify Maim *Soul Degeneration *Crush Vigor Notes *Fox Form maxes out at level 3 *Amplify Damage is de rigeur for Venomancers in that other players in groups will expect the Venomancer to have it and use it. It gives a 20% damage increase. Attack skills *Fox Wallop aka Foxy Drub *Befuddling Mist aka Hexmist Attack *Stunning Blow aka Enlace Drub *Leech aka Life Depriver *Consume Spirit *Malefic Crush *Melee Mastery Notes *Befuddling Mist is a 'fan Area of Effect(AoE)' or 'cone' spell; the area in which the spell effects is an arc in front of the user. Pets Hit the 'P' button to see your pet screen. The pet skill NPC has all the details of how pet Loyalty relates to its damage. What it amounts to is, the faster you kill and better food you give your pet, the better the pet will be. Although the trainer lists the possible foods as hay, meat, fruit, and water, for the most part, hay meat and fruit can be ignored. They are essentially quest items, to get more pet slots with. The venomancer is given 200 special water, which are adequate for feeding, given that you are timely in supplying them to your pet, ie enough until the pet is 'Full', and every 5 minutes thereafter. Once the special water runs out, or when you want to give better, peanut and safflower oils can be purchased from merchants. Generally speaking, pets get higher stats by leveling than they get in the wild, so to speak. The level 2 wolf or scorpion given to the venomancer, if leveled to level 40, will have better stats than level 40 wolves and scorpions found in the wild. Exceptions to this rule can be found; for example, Dodo Bears leveled to 80 are better than Greater Dodo Bears of level 80, but the Greater Dodo Bears acquire better physical and magic defense by level 90. The scorpion in particular is favored by many top players in PvP because of a damage output that is hard to match. Level up pets that are lower than you on the "???-level" enemies; level ground pets on the spiders found to the east of Archosaur, or the creatures in the Cube of Fate, and flying pets on the glowing "Worms" west of City of Raging Tides. These give your pets full xp for each kill, no matter what the Venomancer's or pets' level. All flying Venomancer pets can attack melee-only computer opponents without reprisal. For some reason, the code to disengage from combat against pets does not function properly. This is particularly useful against bosses such as Viriddis Stormhorn, Gouf, and East and Depart, all in the Dragon Wilderness. It is also true of the Mystic Storm pet. Golem: With high physical defense, average to low magical defense, high hit points, and high physical attack, golems function well as 'tanks' in the front line. The Crystalline Magmite pet was replaced after the Rising Tide expansion by the Glacial Walker as preferred Golem pet. Glacial Walkers can be found at the Wavebreaker Camp at 670 177. Other examples: level 17 Molten Lava Crystal and level 18 Fiery Lava Rime, both found near 'Ground of Logging' near Etherblade city. Nearly replaced in most cases due to the release of the Tideborn expansion, with its Water-based tank creature found in the northenmost part of the northernmost of Tideborn islands, which trades small amounts of generally lesser statistics for a goodly increase in important ones like life points and defense. Sawfly: A flying monster, with average to good magical and physical defense, low HP, and a high attack. Example: level 8 Petite Sawfly over and around Bamboo Village. Eldergoth Marksman: Distinguished by a ranged physical attack. Can be found near Swiftwind Tribe. Phoenix and Hercules: Players buy the Hercules to make money to buy the Phoenix. Now if it were just easier to afford the Hercules... Baby Hercules pet eggs are traded for 9,999 Source of Force (from cash shop packs, can be bought and sold by players) at the Pet Manager. Once the pet egg is hatched into a Hercules, it cannot be sold, nor can a reverted egg be sold. They cannot be traded to other players. It is of very limited use, but they can be put into the Account Stash and traded amongst characters on the same account Phoenix pet eggs are traded for 9,999 Phoenix Feathers at the Pet Manager. The resale restriction applies (confirm) Hercules and Phoenix had to make room for the Monkey King (PvP specialization) and Empyrean Harpy (PvE specialization) as most favored pets, with their release in the Rising Call expansion. Pet skills Melee Attacks *Bash *Ripping Bite Elemental *Summon Storm *Poison Sting *Fire Orb *Frost Sting *Sand Raise Debuffs Debuffs either remove enhancements (buffs), as in the case of Purge, above, or lower stats, for the opposite effect of buffs *Frighten *Crustaceous *Bluster *Armor Break *Howling *Decelerate *Screamshock Heal *Embrave Non-Trainer Skills Not obtainable from 'merchants'; received as rewards from Dragon Palace event or other treasure box digging event *DooDoo. Innate skill of Dodo Bear and Great Dodo Bear also obtainable at events. *Sharp Claw *Blessing *Exorcism *Solid Shell *Reversal Shock *Blood Imbibe Genies The differences between Genies are slight ones, and there is no clear consensus in the community at this time on the preferred one for Venomancers. The one thing that does matter is Lucky Points. Players can transfer XP to Genies to level them up. They have to, to gain enough XP to keep the Genie the same level as the player, as only 10% of the player's XP is gained for the genie normally. Venomancers are an excellent XP source for Genies, especially Venomancers with a lot of pets. One pet will always keep up in levels with its Venomancer; two will probably keep up, but three or more will require grinding just for the pets, i.e. lower than the Veno but higher than the pet. This is a waste of XP, and Genies fill this gap nicely; using up the Veno XP until the pets catch up. The Veno gives the XP to Genies to level them up, and 'prove' whether they are a worthwhile investment of more XP by getting them to level 10, when they get their first Lucky Points. If the Lucky Points are suitably high, raise them to 20, etc. The market price for high level Genies with unusually high Lucky Points is in the multiple million range, so it stands to reason that even cast-off Genies with better than average points would be desirable enough for players with low-Lucky Points genies to buy. Advanced skills: * Bewitch * Bewitch (Squirrel) : Transforms the target into an animal that cannot attack. Level 100. Aware of Vacuity. Shares cooldown with Bewitch. Obtained from the Lyceum of Cultivation Chest * Bewitch (Tiger) : Same, except where it is obtained is not noted. * Feral Concentration, lvl 79 : Godwill Powder or Nature Powder prevents the movement negation * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Sv7j-XZ4o Debuff combo: #: Mo zun's Taunt- stifle the opponent and decrease its chi by 50. #: Crush Vigor - Target lose 12 chi and gain chi Only: 50% gain 1 spark #: Chi Burn- Reduce Target Chi by 150. {Enemy No Chi = No stun and other Skill require Chi} #: Soul Degeneration: stop the target Hp and mp regeneration, Decrease target eva by 50% #: Purge- Remove all positive buff #: Amplify Damage- 20% more Damage #: Bewitch- transform the target to any kind of animal(Target can't attack for 6sec) #: Parasitic Nova #: Demon Ironwood Scarab - make target Phy defense to 0(20% chance of succes) #: Any Wood Damage (Recommended: Demon Venoumos scarab- reduce target wood resist by 30) Rising Call This expansion introduced Evolution and two new pets: the Monkey King and the Harpy Pet's stat -Ecatomb Evolved pets cannot be traded to any other character, even characters on the same account. Links * http://pwi-forum.gdevtalk.net/showthread1e55.html?t=1712941 * http://kitelspwiwt.shivtr.com/forum_threads/1731979 * http://placid.wikidot.com/venomancer-sage-vs-demon Category:Classes Category:Guide Category:Pets Category:Venomancer Pet Category:Skill